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 Previous: Surfin': Are You in the Blog? |  Next: Registration for Antenna Course Closes May 2 |
By Anthony A. Luscre, K8ZT
Contributing Editor
April 24, 2004
Software for operating, software that offers technical assistance and programs for record keeping, activity analysis, QSL design and even for making front panels for your homebrew projects.
QRP, Ham Radio, Computers and Me
In my non-ham radio life, I am responsible for the maintenance of a few hundred computers, associated peripherals and network infrastructure. You might think that after work, computers and software would be something I might want to avoid. The fact is that computers and software play such an important role in Amateur Radio today, and that relationship is the main reason I now have a career working with computers.
Back in the mid-1980s when I'd been a ham for just a few years and wanted a better way to keep my log, I used that excuse to purchase my first PC. A logging program followed, and I proceeded to computerize my logging. In the process, I became pretty experienced with computers and soon was helping friends and relatives with their PCs.
Noticing all the time I was spending fixing other people's problems, my wife suggested that if I were going to continue fixing computers, I should figure out a way to get paid for it too. The next day, we launched a consulting business. Eventually, I started to sign up many small businesses as clients. Not long after, an opportunity for a full-time position (with those all-important benefits) in a local school district presented itself, and the rest is--as they say--history.
So, whenever my family complains about my ham radio activities, I remind them that ham radio lead me to my new career, which puts food on the table and clothes on their backs.
Some complain that computers and the Internet are "ruining" ham radio. To the contrary, I believe computers have greatly enhanced ham radio. To my way of thinking, some of the things hams have done with radios and computers have drastically changed the way the world uses computers. Take the packet radio boom that gave many hams a chance to enjoy daily "e-mail" and bulletin boards via Amateur Radio packet nodes long before the general public had any idea what e-mail was.
Soft(ware) Focus
This month, our focus will be on software and on-line resources to enhance our ham radio activities. I've broken down this topic into six general categories: operating tools, computer based digital modes, technical aids, online resources, design and desktop publishing.
Keep in mind that Amateur Radio software is a very broad subject, and we will only be
able to skim the surface. Updated links to many ham software programs will be
available on my Web site software
page.
 This crowded screen shot doesn't really do justice to all the features of PDA's LOGic 7 logging software. |
Operating Tools
Logging software is perhaps the most common ham radio computer application. In a growing number of these software packages, what began as simple contact database application has expanded into a full-blown interface between operator and radio. Loggers now can automatically read frequency and mode data from the radio and log it. Some programs allow you to control frequency, mode, filter selection, scanning and other radio functions.
Many logging programs also can interface with your antenna rotator, right down to choosing a beam heading based on the call sign of the station you're working. Logging software often has the ability to monitor DX packet spots and other spotting networks and even notify you if a needed country pops up, enter the call sign from the spot into the log and change radio frequency and antenna heading.
All you need to do is work the station! (As they say in those TV gadget ads, "It's that easy!")
Logging software often can also query and import information from a CD-ROM or on-line call sign database. A new feature of some logging programs is the ability to communicate with ARRL's Logbook of the World (LoTW). This allows registered users to automate the uploading and downloading of QSL information. Many logging packages also can generate reports, print labels and/or QSL cards and track your QSLing.
Logging and/or contesting software comes in a variety of styles and prices. Prices range from free to approximately $150. Some programs are available as shareware, while others have free demonstration versions available that may have a limited feature set.
Given the large expanse of software styles and features and the similarly wide variety of user operating patterns, there is no one-size-fits all "perfect" software. Review the "Software for Amateur Radio" chart on my Web site for offerings and features, trying out demos and free versions, asking other hams for recommendations and reading. I will continue to provide updated links to many ham software programs on this chart.
One caveat: Most users tend to recommend the product(s) they use. They're probably quite familiar with them and may not have tried anything else. Don't shy away from spending some time and even a little money in making your choices, because you will be using the product a lot. Ask around.
Try the free demo version, if available, before buying.
Some hams use more than one program for various activities, too--logging, rig
control, contesting (perhaps separate software for particular contests) and
awards chasing, for example--and, in fact, many Amateur Radio logging programs
will "talk" with rig control programs. By the way, very often, "specific-event"
software--such as for a state or regional QSO party or even for such events as
ARRL November Sweepstakes or ARRL
Field Day--are available free.
 Just one of many features of WriteLog contesting software is a band map showing locations of stations you have worked and/or stations spotted via the DX Cluster. |
Contesting Versus Logging Software
If your main focus is competitive contesting, you probably will want to use a contesting program with all the bells and whistles to enhance your competitive edge. If you occasionally or even casually operate contests, you may want a full-featured logging program that offers basic contesting capabilities. Even if you are using a program designed for contesting, you may still want a full-featured program to maintain a complete log of all your radio activity, handle QSLing and track contacts for awards, among other things. Full-featured contesting software may offer real-time scoring, rate displays, duping, super partial check, multiplier check lists, band maps and more.
The good news is that most full-featured logging programs
usually can import logs files from your contesting software. One key to
importing log files from one program to another is something called the Amateur
Data Interchange Format (ADIF), pronounced "AY-DIFF". The League's LoTW accepts
logs in ADIF or in Cabrillo format.
 A free program, DX Monitor lets you watch DX spot activity, check propagation indexes and more. |
Gathering Information
The Internet now offers lots of information sources for the QRP DXer, contester or awards chaser. If you have a broadband connection, you can constantly monitor for DX "spots," essentially in real time, and find that rare one you have been waiting for. A very easy-to-use program for watching spot activity is DX Monitor, a free multifunction program that not only displays DX spots but beam heading, distance and current propagation indicators (SI, A and K indexes). It can interface to on-line or CD-ROM databases to give you more information on stations that get spotted.
CD-ROM call books displaced their paper predecessors with easy and quick lookup, and they interfaced with logging software. But CD-ROMs are starting to become obsolete, and many hams have moved to on-line call sign databases such as QRZ.com and Buckmaster, which update almost daily. A large variety of on-line call sign databases are out there. Many are free, some charge fees to use or to access extra features and some are specialized to specific countries or regions.
As with call sign databases, a number of different Web-based sources of DXing and QSLing information are available. Announcements of many upcoming DX operations are found on the excellent and information-packed Web site of Bill Feidt, NG3K.
Contest activity can provide QRPers with opportunities to work a new one or just to make a bunch of QSO. The on-line Contest Calendar of Bruce Horn, WA7BNM, and the Contest Service site of Jan Rehn, SM3CER are terrific resources to determine upcoming contests along with rules, contest exchanges and links to contest sponsors.
By the way, if you are looking for an upcoming hamfest in your area, visit the ARRL Web site's Hamfest and Convention Database. Also check out the weekly Surfin' feature by Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, which highlights Web sites of interest to hams.
Reader Feedback and Author Comments
One of the premier Amateur Radio gatherings takes place in mid May on the other side of Ohio from me. I'm talking about QRP-ARCI's Four Days in May (FDIM) --four days packed with QRP, radio, friends, projects, food, prizes and even Flying Pigs. Oh, yes, there's this other hamfest just up the road at Hara Arena near Dayton. FDIM and Hamvention are great places for a QRPer, so if you have not been to either, do plan to make the trip. I'll be looking for you!
Editor's note: Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, an
ARRL member, lives in Stow, Ohio. He has worked in the field of medical
microbiology for 18 years and is now a Technology and Computer Coordinator for
a local school district. Luscre is an avid QRP operator having earned DXCC, WAS
and WAC using no more that 5 W output. Readers are invited to contact the
author via e-mail, k8zt@arrl.net or
visit his Web site.
| Previous: Surfin': Are You in the Blog? | Next: Registration for Antenna Course Closes May 2 |
